Family planning: SEQ’s population growth trends

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The statistics indicated that more babies were being born in areas in which families could afford to live.

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He said town planners needed to take careful note of how fertility patterns were being impacted by economic and cultural factors.

“Specifically, the fertility measure is influenced by a variety of contemporary factors, including social and demographic choices for reproduction; cultural practices; use of contraception and infertility treatments; and geographic variations reflecting economic, social and environmental factors,” he said.

“Brisbane’s fertility growth rate pattern, like Australia’s other Eastern seaboard capital cities, is evidence of the complex interactions that are now shaping population growth trends. Most recently, housing affordability and employment have played a key role in shaping fertility growth rate patterns.

“The interaction of migration has also been an influence in Brisbane as well as Sydney and more significantly Melbourne.

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This relatively rapid concentration of higher fertility locations on the fringes of Brisbane is placing greater pressure on economic and social infrastructure.

Richard Gibbs View Profile

“In this sense the economics are dominant and result in a spatial outcome that highlights the prevalence of higher fertility rates in the locations that are more affordable and greater distance from the CBD area.

“This relatively rapid concentration of higher fertility locations on the fringes of Brisbane is placing greater pressure on economic and social infrastructure. It is also challenging the traditional models of family and community-centred housing.

“The emerging built environment in Brisbane will play a key role in shaping future social and demographic trends, and hence will influence fertility growth patterns across the metropolitan area.

The above is an excerpt from The Courier Mail. To continue reading the article, please click here (paywall).

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